Just A Game
by Hikari Daeron
Summary: Puzzle/clashshipping. When Malik comes to visit... well, things happened. But wasn't it just a game?


Me: So who fails at life? (raises hand) Oh well. School's over, so now I guess I can focus more on other stuff… (shifty-eyed look) This was hard to write. Reminds me of libera from last season, which I sucked at.

Mostly third person POV, until the end. Timeframe jumps around – end to beginning to right before the end to right after the beginning and et cetera until it comes together. Implied puzzleshipping – YamixYugi – as well as CLASHSHIPPING – this means MarikxYami, people. **Warnings: **Implied rape and murder but nothing actually started or described. Don't read if you don't like. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: Hikari Daeron does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any affiliations. This piece was written exclusively for the aforementioned contest.

* * *

_**Just A Game**_

"You're supposed to be _dead_!"

"So are you," came the amused voice. "Spirits find it hard to lie still, don't they?"

"But-but… the Realm – "

"I, too, was a master of Shadows in my own right."

"But – _I banished you_!"

"I refused to stay banished."

"But – I _commanded _you gone!"

The voice became an icy snap. "I don't _listen _to kings who should have died _millennia _ago. Your reign as Pharaoh ended _then_. You should stop trying to relive the past."

A stumbling of footsteps. "Why are you here?"

"Didn't you know?" The voice was amused again. "I was born out of Malik Ishtar's hatred for _you_."

"Malik is on my side!"

"Malik has nothing to do with this." A chuckle. "Malik is _dead_."

A gasp. "Then you – "

"Yes, of course. Did you really expect I'd let him live after all that? After all the trouble he gave me at the end?" Another flicker of amusement lit his voice. "This body is much easier to control _without _its original host fighting inside of it. As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted… I was born out of Malik's hatred for you, and that hatred spawned a desire to _kill _you." There was the _hiss _of metal as it was unsheathed. "That particular thirst was never _quenched_."

He screamed.

* * *

Motou Yugi's voice was breezy and light as he laughed into the telephone. "C'mon Malik that's – ha! Right, right…" A pause, his face still alight with a smile. "Fine," he said teasingly. "Yeah, yeah, alright. I'll talk to you later then." He placed the phone back in its cradle with a grin and a shake of his head.

"Malik doing well, Aibou?" inquired Yami, coming in from the kitchen with a banana.

Yugi nodded cheerfully. "He wants to visit us – d'you mind?"

"Not at all." Yami smiled at him before biting into the fruit. Yugi came over and chomped on it too, which surprised a chuckle out of his darker half. "You're not a dinosaur, little monster," he teased. Yugi stuck his tongue out at him. The other grinned, scooped him up and then dumped him unceremoniously onto the couch, causing a shriek of laughter.

At the noise, Motou jii-chan stuck his head out of his study. "Try not to destroy my house, boys," he said wryly.

"It's Yami's fault," said Yugi resolutely. That only got him a round of tickling as Yami pounced. His grandfather's lips twitched before he ducked his head back into the study.

"Way to scar jii-chan for life, Aibou," said Yami idly, still tickling him. He chuckled as Yugi howled with laughter before giving him an opportunity to escape. Yugi slung himself on his darker half's back, arms around his neck, panting. Yami laughed.

That's the way it had been, for a while. Summer – glorious, fantastic, _beautiful _summer – reigned down on them and blessed… well, _everything_. Everything the sun's rays touched were granted pardon and in fact encouraged to grow and do as they wished. Because after all, everything in the summer was a fling, and everything in the summer was soon forgotten come fall.

Fall, fall, and how far they would…

* * *

"Yugi, Yugi!" he called with a laugh. "Slow down Aibou!"

There was no answer.

Yami ran deeper into the forest, grinning. "Alright Aibou, we can play this game! Shall I close my eyes and wait for you to hide?"

No answer.

He simply shook it off with another laugh and paused by a tree with a pant. He started off in another direction… and realized something was wrong.

Very wrong.

He glanced around him. The forest had suddenly turned dark and cold; the air grew still as his footsteps became more hesitant. The trees closed in around him as he looked around. "Aibou?" he called hesitantly.

"Lost, O King? What a pity."

He whirled around. "… _You_!" he gasped when he recognized the figure.

A dark chuckled filled the air. "Yes, me. Keeping up well?"

"You're supposed to be _dead_!"

…

* * *

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" called Yugi, dashing up to it. He flung it open. "_Malik_!" he said with a laugh, flinging his arms around his visitor. "I didn't expect a visit so soon!"

The other chuckled and hugged him. "It was supposed to be a surprise. Call it a late birthday present?"

The other beamed. "Perfect! Come in, come in!"

Malik did so, eyes sweeping the room. "Nothing ever changes, does it?"

"Nope," said Yugi cheerfully. "Not here. Want anything Malik?"

"Something to drink, please." The Egyptian patted the other with a smile. "Where's Yami?"

"Right here." The other came forward warmly. "How are you, Malik? Your siblings, the clan?"

"All excellent, I thank you." The blonde's tone was slightly more formal, slightly more respectful towards the other. "And yourself?"

"Fine, fine." He ushered him into a seat. "Long trip?"

"It was alright actually. Translated some scriptures and worked on my deck a bit. What have you been up to?"

"Yugi and I have been spending more time with each other," he replied with a smile at his lighter half. Yugi grinned sheepishly, a blush coming onto his face.

Malik didn't miss that. "Ahhh. I see." He smiled. "Good for you."

Yami waved a hand. "Anyway. You here for long, Malik?"

"Just to visit for a couple of days. Then I'm off to bother Ryou – have you heard from him?"

"Not for weeks," said Yugi, giving Malik a glass of lemonade. He took it gratefully and with a smile, sipping at it. "Last we heard he was going to England to visit some family."

"Yes, that's where he said he was when I talked to him last week – I tell him to call, shall I?"

"Please," Yugi said with gratitude. "We'd appreciate that."

* * *

"Let's play a game," said Malik. His eyes were still that strangely blank lavender and his voice distant.

"What kind of game?" chirped Yugi. If he'd noticed Malik's distance he hadn't acted on it.

"We can explore the forest and make it into a scavenger hunt," came the absent voice. "Maybe play tag on the way."

"Sounds like fun. Ready then Yami?" He dashed off into the forest before Yami could respond.

"Yugi, Yugi!" he called with a laugh. "Slow down Aibou!"

…

* * *

"No, no, don't worry about it…" Malik's voice was unusually aloof, as if his mind was elsewhere. "Don't trouble yourself on my account."

"It's your last day here!" said Yugi with a pout. "_Please_, Malik? There's a nice beach there and some really pretty woods in the background… it'll be fun! And we don't have to invite the gang, it can just be us three…"

The blonde slowly turned to face him. "In that case," he said, a tinge of – was that _menace_? – in his voice. "I'd love to, Yugi…"

He cheered and ran to go pack. "I've got an extra pair of swimming trunks you can wear!" he called, coming back down and tossing them over.

"Thank you…"

Yugi came back down with a bag of things to bring ten minutes later. Yami joined them, amused. "Ready to go?"

"Of course…" Malik followed them out slowly but deliberately.

Yami frowned. "Everything alright, Malik?"

"Yes, yes. Just a little dazed, my last day and all." Almost mechanically, he turned his head to look at him. And gave a smile that bordered on creepy.

* * *

Yugi dashed away as Yami chased him around the beach. After he caught him, the tickling began. "Y-Y-Yami!" he choked. "St-st-st-op!"

He grinned and gently dropped him on the blanket they had lay out. Yugi stretched out on it. Yami smiled. "Tired already?"

Yugi made a face. "No, but if we keep at this I'm going a little bored, and so will Malik. What should we do?"

"Let's play a game," said Malik.

…

* * *

They got to the beach, of course. And Malik – or who appeared to be Malik – had suggested that they play a game. But while it might have been Motou Yugi, Malik Ishtar and Yami no Yugi that went into the forests, those weren't the ones that came out.

Well. That's a lie. Malik's body had washed up on the Nile, somewhere in Egypt. He was almost completely unrecognizable.

Well. That's a lie. Yugi had been alright. He'd woken up and found himself at home. There'd been a note in Yami's handwriting on the dresser: _Gone out, be back soon._

Well. That's a lie. Yami wasn't back "soon". Yami wasn't back the way he left. Technically, I suppose, he was – but not conventionally. After all, hadn't Yami _always _been dead?

Well. That's a lie. There were things done to Yami before he was dead on both occasions, something that made him die in another way too. Oh, how he had _screamed_. He'd hated it all.

Well, that's a lie too. Because Yami no Yugi loved every second of his time with me. I didn't give him a choice.

After all, it was just a game.

* * *

Me: …………………………………… Anyone wanna read the M&M I'm writing for another contest instead? (shifty-eyed expression) Go _Death Note _and my OTP?


End file.
